Daily Sketch: "Floating"
My Daily Doodle.
This was experiment with water textures. I used a bunch of layers and played around with opacity levels as well as layer masks. I wanted to create the impression that just the girl's face and upper torso were above the water, with the rest of her gently floating beneath the surface. I also wanted to create some interesting light reflections as well as a hint of the darker textures down below.
As is usual when doing my Daily Sketches, I didn't really know what I was going to draw when I opened up my blank canvas. I started with some watercolor and semi-transparent textures first, with blues and greens and violets, adjusting transparency. At first I was going to do an underwater scene but then changed my mind. I sketched the girl on a separate layer, then created the color of her skin, hair etc. beneath that layer.
Created entirely in Photoshop with a wide variety of custom brushes.
I've always been fascinated with water textures, and had been hoping to illustrate an underwater picture book someday. Looks like I'm going to get my wish. :-) Stay tuned for more news, hopefully soon....
Monday, September 9, 2013 at 9:36AM | Email Article | tagged blue, girl, underwater, water | Comments Off | Permalink | Share Article
Reader Comments (7)
I absolutely LOVE how this water turned out! Awesome job, and congrats on the coming water book too!
I love this image, and you were very successful at transparency and giving a feeling of depth to the water. The bubbles are great too. I have taken some photoshop classes, but nothing like this ever developed on my screen. I do enjoy painting with paint, but not sure if I can master brushes on photoshop.
I'd say your experiment was very successful, Debbie :) Someday I WILL learn Photoshop *sigh*
Neat illustration! Great effect with layering.
Love the emotion:)
Linda: Thanks!
Elizabeth: Thank you! You absolutely CAN master custom Photoshop brushes. The key, I find, is doing a LOT of experimenting, playing around, and looking for cool custom brushes online. For the latter, make sure you have permission to use these brushes in commercial projects. I'd also check out Alex Dukal's brushes and blog: http://circografico.com.ar/shop/ http://alexdukal.blogspot.com
Donna: It's definitely worth learning Photoshop, Donna, if you want to experiment with digital art.
Rachel: Thanks so much!
Seeing this makes me want to go FLOAT. Love it!
You know, Elizabeth, floating is something I was NEVER able to master *sigh* My legs and torso never failed to sink! lol